The objective of the program is to maintain in Colombia a research center that encourages high quality research and provides research experience in the health-related sciences through collaborative efforts of scientists of Tulane University and other American institutions and those from Colombian universities and institutions. The major research commitment is in the area of infectious disease with emphasis on parasitology including helminthology, protozoology, microbiology and (arthropod) vector biology. There is an active program in immunology which addresses itself primarily to the influence of malnutrition and/or infectious disease on the immune responses of man and experimental animals. There is a limited level of activity in the area of delivery and evaluation of health services. A major effort will be directed toward assessment and solution of health problems that are peculiar to Colombia and other areas of the American tropics and which, at the same time, are of mutual interest, are feasible, and have a clear relationship to health problems of the hemisphere. The goals of the program are to expand the body of scientific information and increase the number of biomedical scientists and health specialists who have a firm knowledge of health problems of the region. In the process, these participants in the program will have developed or enhanced their capabilities as research scientists and, in addition, will have acquired a lasting interest in the assessment and solution of biomedical problems through research. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Beaver, P.C., Neel, J.C. and Orihel, T.C., 1976. Dipetalonema perstans and Mansonella ozzardi in Indians in Southwestern Venezuela. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 25: 263-265. D'Alessandro, A., 1976. Biology of Trypanosoma (Hereptosoma) rangeli Tejera, 1920. In: Biology of the Kinetoplastida. pp. 327-393. W.H.R. Lumsden and D.A. Evans (ed.). Academic Press, New York.